The Airmen's Stories - F/O F H P Connor

Francis Hebblethwaite Powell Connor was born in Maymyo, Burma on 4th October 1917. From the age of four he lived in Jersey, attending a prep school and then boarding at Victoria College, Jersey.

He joined the RAF on a short service commission and began his initial training on 10th May 1937.

Above image courtesy of Connor's daughter Rosemary via Joel Diggle.

On 17th July he was posted to 9 FTS Hullavington and, with his training completed, he joined 22 (Torpedo-Bomber) Squadron at Thorney Island on 12th June 1938.

In August 1939 Connor was a member of the crew of a Vildebeest which crashed into the sea off the Isle of Wight during an exercise. He was trapped underwater, with a badly injured knee, but managed to escape. The pilot survived without injury. Connor spent three months in Haslar Naval Hospital. The knee troubled him for the rest of his life, increasingly so as he grew older.

He married Mary Dodsley in April 1940 in Stroud, Gloucestershire.

Connor went to 5 OTU Aston Down on 22nd June 1940, converted to Spitfires and joined 234 Squadron at St. Eval on 6th July.

He shared in the destruction of a Ju88 on 27th July.

He was shot down on 16th August in Spitfire X4016 during combat with Me109s off Portsmouth. He baled out and was rescued by a Royal Navy destroyer several hours later.

His Spitfire crashed into the sea. Connor did not fly operationally again.

On 3rd November 1940 he was posted to CFS Upavon for an instructors course.

From 14th May 1941 until the end of the war he was a flying instructor in the UK and Canada. Connor's final posting was to the Air Staff at HQ 50 Group at Reading.

He was released in July 1946 as a Squadron Leader. He worked as an air traffic controller in Jersey and died there on 1st May 1982.